I've created a special feature for the print media and broadcasters ("Page Nine" regardless of where or when it runs), that covers stories afresh, not the way news rooms typically flavor things. It would help reduce the distrust so many news consumers feel and could be the most avidly followed item you carry -- if you carry it. It certainly is well received by my audience.
Here's a casual sample. It might make you say, "We'll NEVER run that!" but Page Nine is being built around ad revenues from clear-thinking mainstream businesses.
Alan Korwin, Author
Gun Laws of America
"The Uninvited Ombudsman"
--Tell your friends--
(Sign up and blog info at end)
PAGE NINE
The Uninvited Ombudsman Report, No. 41
by Alan Korwin, Feb 18, 2008
1- Heller Briefs Filed
2- Superbowl Deception Detected
3- SHOT Show Spectacular
4- Media Bias Worsening
5- Kucinich Announces Announcement
6- Natalee Holloway Again
7- Starving Fat People
8- Primary Results Arriving
9- Global Whining Chilled
10- Guest columnist Craig Cantoni --
Treat the president like the garbage man
Corrections:
After three grillings by Congress, including humiliation by Senators Kennedy and Durbin, U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey refused to label waterboarding as torture, meaning it may not be strictly illegal, and could possibly be used by U.S. operatives. The Uninvited Ombudsman had said the technique, which involves getting a suspect safely but scarily wet to extract information, was not torture, then recanted when a public uproar (seven correspondents) and further research found one official source (out of five) that did in fact list the process as torture. It seems unlikely the debate will end anytime soon.
In committee, Durbin (D-Ill.) asked, "What about the circumstances where the information would save lives, many lives, would that justify it?" Mukasey replied, "Those circumstances have not been set out," dodging a harder answer. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, in a BBC interview on 2/12, said, "it would be absurd to say you couldn't" include harsh methods if a bomb was about to go off and you held a person who knew the details. He mentioned "stick something under the fingernails" and face slapping, both of which meet the "inflict pain" aspect of torture that waterboarding does not.
Feb. 23 - Mar. 2, 2008
Meet me at the Texas Concealed Handgun Assn. annual meeting in Kerrville exqqme1@yahoo.com, followed by a barnstorm through San Antonio, Houston, Austin, and ending in Dallas at the Texas State Rifle Assn. annual meeting, http://www.tsra.com
Join author Chris Bird and me at a special event of the Second Amendment Academy at Lone Star College in Conroe, 2/25, 7 p.m., free admission.
Send me an email if you'd like to try to hook up along the way, at the meetings, or at the bigger ranges and stores -- I plan to visit as many as I can.
March 18, 2008
Look for Cartridge Family Band member Bob Blackmer and me at the U.S. Supreme Court for the D.C. v. Heller Second Amendment case. We've got our plans in place to get in and observe the oral arguments on the most significant gun-rights case ever heard in the nation's history. It's the Roe v. Wade of gun rights. PLUS -- We'll have signs and participate in the media zoo expected on the courthouse steps. What would you put on a sheet of paper to hold up for the cameras?
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1- Heller Briefs Filed
The lamestream media told you:
Very little.
The Uninvited Ombudsman notes however that:
The amicus brief for Dick Heller (the pro-gun-rights side) in the D.C. gun-ban case is some of the best 2A reading available today -- a brilliant, logical, thoroughly researched, easy-to-read 82 pages with every statement documented, largely to colonial-era sources. Dig this cite I had not seen before: "The constitutions of most of our States assert that all power is inherent in the people; that . . . it is their right and duty to be at all times armed. . . ." Letter from Thomas Jefferson to Justice John Cartwright (June 5, 1824).
The pro-rights brief cites to many original sources from 200+ years ago. In contrast, the anti-rights brief cites most of its sources from the last few decades, when the whole you-have-no-rights malarkey was being fabricated from thin air. What pure joy to have this out in the open at last.
It brought a smile to my face when the anti-rights people made a tremendous point for their side by quoting Marbury v. Madison (1803), the ancient case that still controls many things today, and the pro-rights side said yes, but here's the other half of that quote... and tore their argument to shreds! Did the antis think they wouldn't get caught in the deception? All the words the antis like to bend and twist (keep, bear, militia, etc.) are carefully defined in their original context.
The list of who proposed and signed which briefs are almost as interesting as the authorities cited and the arguments made. The states of NY, HI, MD, MA, NJ (and PR) filed to deny your rights. So did the American Bar Assn., the NAACP, some usual suspects and the city of Chicago -- because they know they're next. Lead by Texas, 32 states filed in support of the Second Amendment, in addition to 40 state gun-rights groups and general rights groups of every description, except for the conspicuously absent ACLU.
(Photo caption): Excited fans pour onto the Superbowl field for the Tom Petty halftime show.
The Uninvited Ombudsman notes however that:
(Actual caption): Several thousand carefully pre-screened and rehearsed bused-in unpaid volunteers are ushered onto the field to give the impression of wildly exuberant fans at the Superbowl game.
Paying fans, even at ten grand a seat, don't get to set foot on the field. The volunteers are bused-out as soon as the show ends, and do not get to see the game. But it helps create a fine cultural myth and the news media is complicit in the deception. Why let a little thing like honesty get in the way of a well-staged photo op.
The only reason the Uninvited Ombudsman knows about this is because he was going to apply for the job, but ended up working at the SHOT Show in Las Vegas instead. It is unknown if he could have jumped and acted that excited for that long to pass the audition. Note that no one ever has as much fun in real life as actors on TV, especially the ones cleaning the kitchen and bathroom tile.
In other news, it was one heck of a game.
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3- SHOT Show Spectacular
The lamestream media told you:
Nothing.
The Uninvited Ombudsman notes however that:
Seven hundred thousand square feet of space, tens of thousands of attendees from all over the world, nearly two thousand exhibitors in five halls so big you can't see one end from the other, indoor exhibits built two stories high, mountains of weapons and arsenals of every description -- high powered, rapid fire, extended capacity -- assembled once again at the SHOT Show in Las Vegas, and no controversy of any kind was evident.
No lamestream media was evident either, though trade press was abundant. Lamestream media could not cover the event, because it would show the shooting, hunting and outdoor trade (SHOT) industry as a regular business just like any other, which would violate news-media policy.
It's a little smaller than the Consumer Electronics Show, and few items are as big ticket as the Barrett Jackson car auction, but it's a multibillion dollar business with multimillion dollar deals on the floor, and no news coverage, unlike other big-time annual shows.
The most expensive item seen, aside from armored vehicles, helicopters, 18-wheeler self-contained ranges and stores, military miniguns and some of the women, were a set of four matched Perrazi shotguns for $440,000. The Uninvited Ombudsman actually held one in his hands. Carefully. Very carefully. Hey, it's just a shotgun, I'd rather buy a house with that kind of money.
The most unusual exhibit was samples from a find in a Nepal arsenal, remnants of the British East India Trading Company, with 55,000 firearms. They're now all in the U.S. after several years of effort, including piles of original U.S. colonial-era Brown Bess muskets, all available for sale. http://www.ima-usa.com
Among the most clever new products was Shock Knife, a combat-training tool shaped like a knife with a zapper for an edge. Blackwater Int'l., reviled in the "news" media but saving lives in Iraq and around the world, had a huge booth and recruitment videos on big screens, which switched over to the big game just in time when the beer kegs arrived. Artist Wayne McLoughlin offered to paint your name onto a poster for "America's Cheapest Ammunition -- It Usually Works." In the background, a bear is chewing on the remnants of a hunter's clothes.
Here was American enterprise at its finest, new products of incredibly clever design and advancement, entrepreneurship in unbridled fine array, the buzz and hustle of free markets unlike anywhere else on Earth, and no news media.
All these guns and there's no crime, no death, no controversy. It's just good healthy business, and after incessant media pounding, that was just plain weird.
The picture painted by the media is so perverse, so negative, so deadly and crime ridden, that to see this show with so many fine upstanding people, from business suits to gilley suits, casual dress to corporate uniforms, babes bursting from show costumes to your basic bubbas shopping for their businesses, the disjoint between the publicly promoted image of guns and the reality was hard to reconcile. The bias and distortion of the media shined from a brightly lit pedestal.
The show themes are familiar and pervasive -- law enforcement, personal safety, hunting for food, military protection, convenience in the outdoors, high performance for competitors, gear for everyone, every manufacturer's entire handgun and long gun line out in the open for touchy feely examination, and no media.
That's probably a good thing. Because knowing their sorry ways, they would use this show as a way to make everything look bad. Despite the obvious reality to the contrary, they would immorally make us seem evil instead of righteous, ignoring the fact that guns are why America is still free. http://www.shotshow.com
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4- Media Bias Worsening
The lamestream media told you:
Literally nothing.
The Uninvited Ombudsman notes however that:
The Media Research Center's latest analysis of network TV "news" finds that, for the first seven months of 2007, ABC, CBS and NBC ran 650 stories on homicides involving firearms. They balanced this with stories of guns saving people from crime -- twice -- for a ratio of 325 to one against the public.
Criminologists have repeatedly found that guns are used to prevent crimes far more often than to commit crimes. Of 13 scholarly studies on the issue, depending on time frames and the set of respondents asked, guns stop crime between 700,000 and 3.4 million times every year.
The networks' distortion of truth on the subject is reprehensible, especially as public stewards of government-monopoly licenses to broadcast. They could not be reached for comment.
Efforts to have the Society of Professional Journalists address such ethical abuse have been fruitless -- and I've been trying for years. My latest article on the matter was turned down as "too controversial." Go figure.
In other news, MRC's study revealed the networks give double the time to Democrat candidates and promote the liberal agenda. See the report, or add your name to the petition demanding equal time: http://www.grassfire.net/406/petition.asp?PID=15518814&NID=1
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5- Kucinich Announces Announcement
The lamestream media told you:
Dennis Kucinich announced on Jan. 24 that he would announce on Jan. 25 that he was quitting his bid for the White House, according to an unbylined article by the Associated Press, taken from an interview in the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
The Uninvited Ombudsman notes however that:
The practice of announcing upcoming announcements should prompt ridicule, but is now reported with a straight face by "reporters" who quote each others' stories. It does allow media to run the same story twice, helping to fill space. Kucinich, viewed as a left-wing extremist by left-wing extremists but treated kindly by the left-wing press, used a page from mainstream politics by announcing his upcoming announcement. Leading experts suggest it may be better than the practice of asking friends to anonymously leak leaks, because it is less dishonest.
Earlier in the week, AP reports "he made an urgent appeal on his Web site for funds for his reelection." How much he raised, or what happened to the money, went unreported.
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6- Natalee Holloway Again
The lamestream media told you:
New evidence has re-opened the Natalee Holloway case, the Alabama teen who disappeared three years ago during a high school graduation vacation in Aruba. The usual suspects, players, locations, fact-free details, blah blah blah and more after these messages.
The Uninvited Ombudsman notes however that:
At last count, FBI figures indicated there are at least 51,000 active missing-person cases open in the United States. The public doesn't know this because it is concealed by "news" media that only has room for one missing teenager from 2005.
By failing to cover real cases and focusing incessantly on a single, old, overworked, overseas, sensational, mysterious, unsolved case of an attractive blonde teenaged white girl, the media deceives the public about safety, and the threat abductions and disappearances pose to the average Page Nine reader (and the rest of the country). It is unknown whether increased public gun possession would help lower the alarming rate of disappearances.
Tens of thousands of people go missing annually, some through foul play, some skipping out on debts, troubles, spouses, kids, parents, responsibility, and some from preventable accidents. Some are heinous murders with the bodies never found, so they end up listed simply as missing. Please drop a note to your local "news" outlet today, thanking them for keeping you informed. Permission to circulate this Page Nine news brief is, as always, gladly granted.
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7- Starving Fat People
The lamestream media told you:
Mississippi lawmakers have introduced a bill to prevent any state-licensed restaurant from serving food to obese people. News reporters uniformly mocked Mississippi, the legislators, called the bill dead on arrival, and used images to mock fat people.
The Uninvited Ombudsman notes however that:
Reporters uniformly failed to call for charges against legislators who propose bills which they have absolutely no shred of legitimate authority to introduce. If the esteemed Fourth Estate doesn't hold officials accountable, who will?
Meanwhile, in other news, New York is seeking to ban menus if state-required dietary information isn't included. Authority to regulate menus doesn't appear to be within the limited powers delegated to elected officials in the Big Apple any more than Mississippi can ban fat people from chowing down in public. No word yet on how fat you would have to be before the public eating ban would apply, or how on-site testing would be done.
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8- Primary Results Arriving
The lamestream media told you:
Sen. Barack Obama has just won the CNN poll shows that Hillary Clinton will not find but the three delegates from have now decided that Barack will Hillary blah blah blah and according to Dennis Kucinich, himself a former candidate might according to Republican strategist said John McCain who has infuriated the three networks are predicting blah blah gag.
The Uninvited Ombudsman notes however that:
The Uninvited Ombudsman has noticed, as other intelligent observers have also noted, that once you read the primary results on the scroll at the bottom of the "news" channel screens, everything else the "news" channels present is meaningless drivel and unsubstantiated opinion that simply doesn't matter. Thirty-five seconds of reading the scroll is sufficient to garner any actual news. Viewership continues to drop for reasons which remain a mystery, according to People magazine and Variety.
Whether America needs a partially Muslim-trained, black-nationalist-church attending half Kenyan with a rich voice in the White House has not been addressed in recent interviews with the candidate, along with any other meaningful issues of the various wannabees. For questions that ought to be asked, aside from those found in any high school history text book prior to 1960, see The Liberty Poll, https://www.gunlaws.com/the%20liberty%20poll.htm
The snopes.com website both confirms and denies that Barack Hussein Obama, son of Barack Hussein Obama, was a student of a somewhat Muslim school in predominantly Muslim Indonesia for four years.
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9- Global Whining Chilled
The lamestream media told you:
Violent snowstorms are blanketing the northeast again and have been blamed for at least 15 deaths. This follows snow and ice storms that have crippled the Midwest, the Pacific northwest, northern states and even the usually warm south, with power lost for hundreds of thousands, people trapped in their homes and roads impassable for days.
The Uninvited Ombudsman notes however that:
For reasons that remain unclear, global whining has not been blamed for the unusually ferocious cold weather lasting quite late in the season. In other news, the hurricane season ended months ago (Nov. 30 is the official end date) with no news coverage of the missing but gleefully anticipated global-whining-related destruction and devastation. Experts had predicted unprecedented activity. In contrast, the 2006 season, also predicted to be massive, ended without a single hurricane touching U.S. shores, according to usually reliable sources at CNN.
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We should treat the president like the garbage man
By guest columnist Craig J. Cantoni
Do we cheer the garbage man for doing his necessary but filthy job? Do we revere septic tank cleaners for doing their necessary but smelly work? Do we honor undertakers with statues in the public square for doing their necessary but creepy work?
Of course not.
Then why do we cheer, revere and honor politicians for doing their necessary but filthy, smelly and creepy work? Why is Washington D.C. cluttered with statues and monuments to them but not to the garbage man, the septic tank cleaner and the undertaker?
You might answer that a monument like the Lincoln Memorial is important because it honors Lincoln for freeing the slaves and keeping the Union together. Good answer, if it were true. Actually, thousand of Americans died to free the slaves and keep the union together. Contrary to what we were brainwashed to believe as kids, Lincoln doesn't deserve a bigger monument than any of them. (Then there is the issue of whether the Civil War truly was unavoidable and whether the horror of slavery would have ended on its own without the tragedy of war and the subsequent tragedy of Jim Crow.)
The garbage man, the septic tank cleaner and the undertaker are necessary to stop the spread of pestilence. Politicians are necessary to stop us from using clubs to resolve our differences, but, as history shows, they often stir our primitive passions to club other tribes over imagined differences. All of these occupations reflect the dark side of human existence, but only the job of politician requires deceit, hypocrisy and egomania.
Is that something to celebrate and honor?
The Founders understood that government is a necessary evil. That makes the representatives of government a necessary evil. As such, it's important to select them carefully, to keep a close eye on them, and to limit their job description to protecting life, liberty and property. But honor them?
The best way to limit politicians' lust for power is to treat them like the garbage man. That means selecting mentally balanced people for the job, recognizing the necessity of their work, and firing them when they deviate from their job description. It doesn't mean erecting statues and monuments to them and crossing the street to gawk at them if they are in our neighborhood.
Imagine how much better the nation would be if a president came to town and no one showed up to pay homage or to demonstrate subservience by playing "Hail to the Chief" when Air Force One arrives, as if this is a tribal chieftain and the subjects are in loin cloths with bones through their noses. After all, we don't play "Hail to the Garbage Man" when he exits the garbage truck.
In such a nation, the job of president would attract people with humility and normal egos. It would not attract the likes of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton or John McCain -- all of whom want to remake the world in their likeness instead of restricting themselves to protecting life, liberty and property.
The closest I've come to such a nation was a business trip to Iceland years ago. As my host was driving around Reykjavik and showing me the sights, he pointed to a non-descript building that resembled a large suburban ranch house. "That's the office of the prime minister," he said. "Would you like to go in and meet him?" he asked as nonchalantly as if he were asking me to meet his garbage man.
"Just walk in and meet him?" I responded incredulously. Like other Americans, I had gotten so used to treating politicians better than garbage men that I couldn't imagine such a thing.
I've since placed my childhood notions about presidents and other politicians where they belong: in the garbage can of bad ideas.
An author and columnist, Mr. Cantoni can be reached at ccan2@aol.com.
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----------
Thanks for reading!
Alan Korwin
The Uninvited Ombudsman
Alan Korwin
Bloomfield Press
"We publish the gun laws."
4848 E. Cactus, #505-440 <-- NEW STREET ADDRESS
Scottsdale, AZ 85254 <-- NEW STREET ADDRESS
602-996-4020 Phone
602-494-0679 Fax
1-800-707-4020 Orders
https://www.gunlaws.com
alan@gunlaws.com
Call, write, fax or click for free full-color catalog
If you can read this, thank a teacher.
If you're reading this in English, thank a veteran.
"No one could make a greater mistake than he who did nothing
because he could do only a little."
--Edmund Burke
================================
Comments help keep me going. Alan.
================================
Alan, Thanks for mentioning "Senators Urge Bush to Allow Guns In National Parks...." However, I am deeply disappointed and appalled that Congress' letter does nothing more than ask a couple of political appointees and bureaucrats to change the rules. Congress has the long-forgotten power to require -- not merely ask -- that these agencies honor the Constitution and the Second Amendment. Indeed, Congress itself can change these regulations without seeking the permission of any bureaucrat! As a voter I expect my congressmen to introduce and support legislation to immediately change 36 CFR 2.4 and 50 CFR 27.42 and all other federal laws and rules to fully comply with the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights. --Blaine Nay
If feds keep going like they are, we'll all have cell numbers, and they won't be telephones.
"...if you don't have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one." --Jesus (c/o gunwriter)
Thanks for the solid updates. Keep up the high caliber work.
(Responding to the "news" story about returning vets committing murder, while hiding the fact that their murder rate is FIVE TIMES LOWER than the public at large) A fellow blogger lays bare that media types are more likely to commit heinous crimes more than returning vets. From the posting: Statistics of Shame --
Accounts of media psychopathy, while widespread, have until now been largely anecdotal. In order to provide a more focused and systematic study of the crisis, Iowahawk researchers set out to identify and tabulate criminal arrests and convictions of current and former journalists. While by no means comprehensive, this 10-minute project yielded a grim picture of a once-proud profession now in the grips of tragic, drunk, violent, child-raping rage. http://iowahawk.typepad.com/iowahawk/2008/01/notepads-of-sha.html
alan, i want to thank you for your excellent work. it has been my opinion for a long time that the most important work we can do is to spread the truth. articulate and clear arguments are more persuasive and compelling and thus more conducive to effecting change. i cant say that i have always agreed with everything you write but more often than not i do and reading your column has helped me to articulate my own thoughts. i am always glad and grateful to receive your email.thank you, James Parton phoenix osiris
[Thanks for the kind words. Unfortunately, logic only works on half the population. The other half runs on fear, rumor, feelings and vague senses of uneasiness. They need to be reached on that level, but it's not my strong suit. Alan.]
Page Nine keeps me up to date on my 2nd amendment rights erosion factor. Thanks Alan for the info. Patriots that work tirelessly for little reward are to be appreciated. You are! I suspect if our forefathers could have imagined the assault on our 2nd amendment rights that we face today they would have instead made it the 1st amendment since it is the only one that guarantees the the rest of our God given rights remain with us, "The People". Don't Give Up Your Guns if you want to truly be free. Citizens who walk in ignorant bliss in regards to personal protection from todays criminal element will most likely end up their prey. Stay the course Alan. Love your books, Steve
I would like to tell you that I appreciate receiving your newsletter. I read every time I get it. I have a question about this new law. I couldn't find anything about how this will effect Vets with PTSD? How much of a rating will get your rights pulled? Also I read something from GOA about drugs like Prozac. Anything that you could tell me would be appreciated. Keep up the good work. Thank You, Bob
[PTSD and drugs could easily have cost you your rights under the old proposal from Brady and the antis, just like GOA warned. Under the new bill that was enacted with NRA pressure this was fixed. Now, aside from involuntary commitment to a mental institution that was on the books before, it takes a full due-process hearing in a proper court, with advance notice, right to be represented, right of appeal, and a valid finding that a person is truly dangerous, and the finding can later be overturned by medical professionals.]
WE MOVED on JAN. 1, 2007!!
Alan Korwin
Bloomfield Press
"We publish the gun laws."
4848 E. Cactus, #505-440 <-- NEW STREET ADDRESS
Scottsdale, AZ 85254 <-- NEW STREET ADDRESS
602-996-4020 Phone
602-494-0679 Fax
1-800-707-4020 Orders
https://www.gunlaws.com
alan@gunlaws.com
Call, write, fax or click for free full-color catalog
If you can read this, thank a teacher.
If you're reading this in English, thank a veteran.
"No one could make a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little." --Edmund Burke
Gun Save Lives
Guns Stop Crime
Guns Are Why America Is Still Free
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